I used to think that keeping a to-do list was a common thing but actually it is very uncommon. What’s even less common is to have a to-do list that isn’t just a numbered list of things to be done one day.
Stress is produced in our lives when we don’t know what to do. The pressure of having a big project is different to stressing about the project. Pressure is a challenge that draws us up to higher levels. Stress is when our minds are overloaded because of that pressure – but I believe you can have pressure without stress! Stress comes when you don’t know what to do with your project.
The most common mistake with a to-do list is to just make a hope list or a project list. While you should keep a project list of things that you are working on, and a someday list for things to be done one day in the future but not necessarily to be done, the main to-do list is where your very next actions go. This is also called your “Next List”.
For example, “Clean the car” is not a task, it is a project, and therefore writing that down in your to-do list isn’t helpful, it’s daunting. Rather you should write down “Pick up vacuum cleaner to clean car”, and “Purchase car cleaning products.” This way you have the next action and relieve stress.
A to-do list is at it’s most powerful when every task:
Is the next tangible and achievable action on the project (how do you tick “Go on holiday”, except when you’ve come back? Rather have “Investigate flights to Spain”)
Is actionable and begins with a verb and thus is an action (this forces you to make it an action, “Investigate flights to Spain” and not just a statement, “Flights”)
Is measurable and has a due date (setting a deadline for the task to be produced, like “Investigate flights to Spain by Tuesday” as opposed to it lingering in production perjury)
Tasks without these things are less likely to be done and more likely to be procrastinated over because they require extra thought before they are done (meaning you still don’t know what to do.)
The to do list is the backbone of your day. It is your runsheet that your day is played off. You will keep four lists that your tasks are organised around:
Next List. This is where all your next tangible, actionable and measurable actions go.
Project List. Here you keep a running list of the projects that you are actively working on, as opposed to projects that have been archived. If you have too many projects here then your alarm bells go off.
Someday List. All the things that you want to do one day that don’t require a deadline.
Waiting For List. Finally, you have a list for all the things that you are waiting to hear back and/or have delegated to others.
Having these four to-do lists means you really need a to-do manager that you can access online, on your phone, on your iPad, on your computer and so. I use Action Method which organises my tasks either according to the project that they are in, or in a flat Next List view. Action Method also allows me to delegate tasks from within the programme.
Labs
What practical help do you need right now with running a to-do list? Let us know so that the Friends here can help.
We need to get things done. And there was a point in my life 2 years ago when the book, Getting Things Done literally saved my life.
I want to break down the 5 pillars of productivity in preparation for a seminar I’m given on this on Sunday at The River Church. (If you’re in the neighbourhood, you are welcome to come – 2:30pm this Sunday.)
Before we begin: productivity vs creativity and the creative’s problem
Ahead of discussing the 5 pillars, I want to make an observation on the problem that we are trying to solve. Most of us have too much on our plate. We are inundated with ‘stuff’ and struggle on a daily, weekly and yearly basis with getting the things done that we need to and/or want to.
Of course, in the end, most stuff comes about right. But I wonder whether we reach anywhere near the potential that we could if we were more organised.
Further more, whilst everything might be alright in the end, the stress levels that we are living at with the weight of responsibility that most of us have crushes and paralyzes us. So whilst we might get to the end of the year with the stuff done that we needed to, it is with the price of exhaustion and the neutering of our creativity.
Yesterday Esko Kilpi challenged me that we should not use the word productivity for humans, but rather the word creativity. My good friend Robin Dickinson also talks about developing a strong NO and not filling out time with so much that we aren’t focussed on the present. Both of them would say that productivity – trying to squeeze more and more out of your day – is a foolish and inhuman pursuit and we should rather seek to have creative whitespace in our days.
Whilst I certainly don’t fall into the other side of the ditch – working 18 hours a day is not working smart – I am working in an environment where I have a lot to do and oversee and my days are on the fuller side as opposed to the free side.
Furthermore, anyone who is ‘creative’ knows that creativity requires discipline. And productivity requires creativity. The two are intrinsically linked and I wonder if it isn’t just a semantic game playing them off against each other.
The 3 values of this balanced life
Thus my premise for productivity, revolves around some core values that are a healthy balance of creativity but also reality:
Integrity. That you become a reliable person, to others and to yourself, and that you do what you say you will do.
Efficiently effective. That you become efficient, giving the time to tasks that they require in order to give you time for creativity, and that your creativity and thinking time is effective. This also denotes control and mastery of what of you do.
Healthy. That you have balance between work and play (not just work, not just play), between enjoying rights and managing responsibilities, and that you enjoy a clear mind. This is freedom.
I think that whether we call it productivity or creativity, these three are good qualities that span all spectrums.
The end of December is always an enjoyable time for me as I focus on the coming year and my priorities. Whilst it’s true that if you want to do something, you should do it, the New Year is helpful in providing a distinct time for reevaluation and refocus.
The trouble with New Years’ Resolutions is that they have a lot of bad PR – namely that they aren’t worth the hot air they’re spoken by – and whilst we have ever intention of starting on January 1st with a whole new outtake on life and a brand new daily routine, we all know in the back of our minds that it won’t last.
What I want to share with you today is a simply mindset change that will help you achieve the change you want to make in a year, without experiencing resolution cut-out or just plain burnout from the 52-part routine your day now consists of.
1. Your Vision For The Year
Every year I have a vision for the year – an overall statement that will guide what I do. Last year my vision for myself was “a leader of teams, not a doer of things”, as I was the bottle neck for way to many projects because I was the one doing all the work. Instead, I had to make 2010 about being a leader of teams and not a doer of things if I wanted the projects to become significant.
I find a vision is more helpful for an overall year that a list of 50 monthly goals, because the vision helps you make quick decisions (does this fit in with my vision for the year?), and also is more a guiding vision than a list of objectives that, if they aren’t fulfilled, can discourage your greatly.
2. Change Your Mindset: The Vision Is For The End, Not The Beginning
Once you have your vision statement – mine for 2011 is “Fatherhood” – then here comes the most important shift that will change the way your approach this year.
Rather than making the vision about what you must be from January 1st, your vision is actually what you want to have integrated into your life by December 31st. In other words, it’s not about making 10 immediate changes to your work habits and setting wildly outrageous goals for exercise, family time, professional achievements and spiritual development on a week by week basis. Instead, it’s taking the pressure off and relieving this intensity by setting a picture that you want to move towards, rather than a marker that you must already be at. The vision is for the end, not the beginning.
If you think about this, this is just common sense. I can take a year to fully integrate a new routine in my life, but I am unlikely to get it into my life tomorrow. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about in Philippians when he said “not that I have attained on been made perfect, but I press on towards the goal.”
3. Work Backwards In Quarters
Once you’ve got your vision as where you want to be by the end of the year, work backwards and set an objective for each quarter.
Too often we set a vision but then never layout a path to get there, and the mistake I’ve made is by setting the vision and then having a few key objectives that I didn’t make time sensitive, and as we all know when it comes to getting things done, you need a due date.
Now I’m not saying that these objectives become to-dos on our to-do list. But what I am saying is they are timed and measurable markers to help us move towards our vision. So my first of 4 objectives is to “have a daily routine for my life, for life”, by which I mean a daily routine that I can be happy with for the rest of my days and works at my optimal level, with room for adaptation. This is my first objective, so of course, it’s tied to the first quarter (due: end of March!)
By having this overall quarterly aim, I am still avoiding the intensity and weight of a totally changed life from day 1. In fact, it’s not even an intensity per month, but per quarter. I also think that if your vision needs more than 4 quarters to get to, it’s too big for the year.
Once you have your objective, you can then break it down into some smaller goals to help you get there. But don’t make too many – we want to keep this simple as you already have enough complexity in your life.
4. Develop A Daily And Weekly Routine
I recently taught a group of leaders that I mentor about daily and weekly routines and was surprised to find how none of they really had one. So whilst I am indeed talking to early adopters and suspect many of you do, I will still go over how I suggest it’s done.
First thing is that simplicity is the key. I have no interest in creating more work to manage my work. I need a routine that is basic, adaptable and easy to complete so that I don’t get discouraged.
My daily routine goes a little bit like this, which Chris Brogan posted this week – so have a watch:
The key points to add in addition to Chris are 1] I have a set bed time and wake up time as my body loves this, 2] I know what food makes me feel better in the morning, so I eat that! 3] I have a rule when I can use a computer from – in order to force me to disconnect, and 4] my daily routine is more basic than this, but the idea of sectioning time is what I want to get at here.
My weekly routine is even more basic. On a Sunday, I mind map the projects that I am doing on my iPad (I’ll discuss this another time), and based on that mind map, I allocate slots of time to work on those projects in my diary, like appointments with myself. This leaves no whitespace in my calendar and thus that time can’t be taken up with other things like meetings and so on. It also means I have made that commitment with myself, and then can make commitments with others based on what I can get done in those time slots. This means I have accountability with my teams.
5. Get Things Done
If you haven’t read Getting Things Done, then rather than buying the book, you can read this summary by Olivier Roland. This is the very summary that changed my life two years ago. There’s also a fuller summary here. It’s important that you have a daily system for the work you do, and whilst I would assume you as an early adopter do, there are so many people that don’t that I don’t want to assume.
Over To You: Your Leading Thoughts
I always ask for your thoughts to build to this post, as there’s more wisdom in the comments than in my brain! I’m keen to know:
How do you plan for your year? How have you learnt to make every year count?
What is your vision for this year?
What tools can you suggest others here use that you have found indespensible?
Also, I’m so passionate about productivity and being efficient and effective that I’m really keen to help with any questions that you have – so please, ask away.
I put this out on the Like Minds blog this week. It’s a fabulous talk by John Cleese on creativity, mainly about how to be more creative by setting boundaries in space and boundaries in time.
He makes the following 6 points:
Sleeping on a problem helps creativity.
The unconscious mind works creatively even when you’re not creatively engaged (John tells a great story to illustrate this.)
Interruption breaks creativity, and it’s hard to pick up the flow again.
We don’t know where we get our ideas from – we don’t get them from our laptops – they come from our unconscious. If you get in the right restful mood (not being busy), you are not going to have any creative ideas. This really resonates with me and my over busyness.
You need to create a “tortoise enclosure” by: creating space and creating time. This creates an oasis that is separate from ordinary life. Boundaries in space, boundaries in time.
Most people who don’t know what they are doing have no idea that they have no idea what they are doing. This explains why so many people are unfocussed.
I want to focus on what John says about creating an oasis that is separate from ordinary life, set by boundaries in space and boundaries in time.
Do You Have Space?
Here’s my dilemma. I have no space like this. I am “balls to the wall” as the saying crudely goes, and I consider myself as being quite creative in this tight space. I wonder how much more creative I could be. I must be wasting a lot of time without having this time to focus and think clearly.
Likewise I’m sure this is true of many people – do we have time to reflect? I’ve written a lot about this, but just don’t seem to be able to get this right. I would say that my problem is one of delegation – I have too much to do myself but struggle passing it down the line. The catch 22 is of course, if you don’t delegate, you don’t get time, but you need time to delegate!
Harmony is achieved when the inner me and my outer actions are in-synch. It’s almost the opposite of GTD thinking where different aspects of me get scheduled and prioritized. Imagine the body try to schedule your breathing or your pulse??
Your Leading Thoughts
I need you help here today as I have got to sort this out:
Do you have creative space? How do you build it? How do you keep it?
How do you effectively delegate in order to create this space?
1. Sort out my to-do list every morning
2. Start at 7 every morning.
3. Review my 99 day goals every week
4. Review my stats every week
5. Keep my CRM system up to date
6. Bring my laptop to meetings and be productive when waiting for people before meetings.
7. Do the GYM at least 3 times a week at lunchtime. The GYM helps me think and makes me more productive.
8. Avoid the laptop 1 day a week. You are more productive with 6 days work not 7.
9. Group my tasks by context, if I’m on the phone I try to do the phone calls all at once.
10. Make sure I’m doing 1 to 9
I’d say those are pretty good - although point 10 is blatant cheating.
Your Leading Thoughts
Dont’ worry about 10. What are your top 3 productivity tips?
In our discussion recently on “it’s easier to obtain than maintain“, we looked at how we deal with the everyday ‘boring’ work, considering most of us are type A, driven, motivation fuelled people.
One comment really stuck at as having a lot of gold in, from my dear friend Robin Dickinson. (It’s not the first time. He’s been doing this for a year now…)
Before I quote the comment and share my thoughts on what he said, it’s important to point out in the spirit of curation that Robin’s blog is the best self-focus and business development blog that I engage with, and also a model community for many to follow on what Robin and I call the ‘comment driven blog’.
Robin has innovated a few things on his blog. First of all, the comment driven blog post as mentioned above, 2 minute ‘Black Chair‘ videos, and more recently, the start of the Sharewords community through a blog post that has had over 1,000 comments. This blog post is in my opinion an internet phenomena, and a shining example of a value-based approach towards social media (and one that I follow.) I thoroughly recommend that you subscribe in your RSS and get acquainted with Robin on Twitter.
How A Master Maintains
The point is that Robin is someone who continually obtains – but is also the best I know at maintaining. So when he left this comment, and with such focus, I listened. Here it is (original link):
“what practical skills and tips have you learnt to keep things maintained?”
Quick list, in no particular order:
* Have a long-term plan (3-5 year horizon);
* Know what really pays the bills and stick to it;
* Have a life outside of work;
* Pace yourself;
* Know when and what to automate and delegate;
* Max-min key processes: design for maximum result for minimum effort;
* Measure and track key business indicators;
* Take full control of and responsibility for the numbers – the finances;
* Understand WHY you are doing what you do – have a solid rationale;
* Understand how to achieve and stay diamond focused on what really works.
My takeaways: there is balance here. Practically, I can see that Robin splits his days between obtaining new and maintaining the old, and I can see that when it comes to maintenance, he maintains the fun stuff and he maintains the essential and sometimes boring stuff too. The real winner is that he harnesses the power of a habit that has a strong focus.
Your Leading Thoughts
I’ll be honest with you – my daily routine has become a bit unbalanced as of late. When I’m in balance, I find I am far more productive, but out of balance I work harder but find I punching a lot of air and tend to be unfocussed and less productive even though I am working more.
How balanced are you? How so you balance obtaining with maintaining?
And how can we help each other to become more balanced?
Since getting back from our time away over August, I haven’t stopped. I wrote a blog post about being relaxed, refreshed and re-envisioned when I got back from the holiday, but boy does it seem like a distant memory! The good thing is that I delivered on what I said I’d would.
I have, however, learnt a valuable lesson over the last 3 months (I seriously can’t believe how quickly the time has gone) – a lesson not learned through success, but through burnout: if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. Continue reading →
When spinning so many plates as a husband, business man, a pastor (not the pastor, BTW), and handling all the curve balls of life, you sometimes come crashing down to the ground. I’m sure you’ve been there too – am I right?
When you’re living on the ground, you can’t see the wood for the trees. This is the place of straws that break the camels back, the little things that make you snap. You are so focussed on the next hour of your life that you loose balance, becoming obsessed about the tiniest things that have flared up emotionally into massive issues. That’s why David Allen in Getting Things Done talks of getting off the runway to the 10,000, 20, 30, 40 and 50,000 feet levels.
When I take my head out of the sand and begin to soar with the eagles a bit, I get perspective. I see beyond the temporary. I see beyond the current hour, and see its place in relation to coming days, weeks, months and even years. I even see the current hour’s place in relation to eternity. But taking off from the ground often requires help. You need other people to fly with you, who’ll help you fly and get perspective when you don’t have the energy too yourself. These close friends, mentors, and teachers are people who have perspective themselves and are wise, hence their voice carries weight when they speak into your life, as well as a current of air that can lift you up. As the Proverb says, “He who walks with the wise will grow wise.”
When your head is down, these people not only help you lift it up, but they remind you that the journey is the adventure – so soak up every moment of it, rather than wasting away looking to a distant ‘someday’.
My best bit of advice for getting perspective? One of my favourite preachers, T.D. Jakes said “if you have a problem that can be solved by money or a holiday, then you don’t have a problem.” How about that for perspective?
Jesus saved my soul. GTD saved my future. Really, it did.
When started working at church at 19 I had no office experience. And although in my melancholic, creative nature there is an obsessive and meticulous organiser within me, unfortunately I have historically had a nasty habit of never implementing a system because I could never get it ‘perfect’ enough.
From 19 through to 25, despite the public successes I had, the lack of organisation, mental clarity, and ability to lead and to delegate was killing me.
Let me paint the picture for you. I could start a massive youth initiative, but I couldn’t keep it organised. I could start a great TV programme, but I couldn’t continue running it after the start-up energy drained. I could sit and share great ideas, but couldn’t implement them. I could start many, many things, but I could never finish them.
It is a curse and a form of mental torment to have potential, be a thinking person, see beyond the normal things, but be hindered from getting what is in the nebulous of your potential within you, out of you. Continue reading →
I used to think that keeping a to-do list was a common thing but actually it is very uncommon. What’s even less common is to have a to-do list that isn’t just a numbered list of things to be done one day.
